Member's Off-site Blogs

making the american diet fat again...

Former first lady Michelle Obama on Friday expressed concern with the Trump administration's decision to reverse the regulations aimed at improving school lunches.

One of Obama's signature accomplishments at the White House was a nationwide effort to combat childhood obesity and promote a healthy lifestyle.

In early May, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the department will delay the implementation of requirements to reduce the amount of sodium and increase whole grains served in school meals.

Along with relaxing school meal standards, pushed forward by Obama, the Trump administrationhas postponed rules instructing restaurants, grocery stores and other outlets to put calories counts on their menus.

For the first time since leaving the White House, Obama strongly condemned Trump, without mentioning him by name, saying that something has to be "wrong" with an administration that doesn't want to give consumers nutrition information or teach children to eat healthily.

Ah, crisps! Just the ticket for powering through a day of dubious decision-making and 3am tweets, no? Jo Travers, a dietitian and author of The Low-Fad Diet, is unconvinced. She is particularly worried about the impact of Trump’s diet (heavy on the fast food, easy on the veg) on his ability to think straight.

For starters, Trump barely touches anything containing omega-3s – the fats found in nuts, oily fish and flax seeds that our brain cells need to function. “His body will substitute with other types of fats, which are less fluid, making it harder for neuro transmitters to get through. This is linked to mood disorders,” she says – which might explain a thing or two ...

On the off chance Trump is up for a delayed new year health kick – we get it, he has been busy – Travers has a few pointers based on what he likes best.

On breakfast, which Trump skips if he can, or eats bacon and eggs if pushed, Travers thinks he should be “replenishing the nutrients his body can’t store overnight”. And cut down on the bacon. “It’s a processed pork product, which has been linked with cancer, so his risk of developing the disease will go up.” She would rather see a more even balance of protein and carbs. “His high-protein diet can put added pressure on his organs if he doesn’t drink enough water.”

Pope Francis and First Lady Melania Trump appeared to mock President Trump’s weight on Wednesday — giggling over the portly president indulging in high-calorie Slovenian sweets during a meeting Wednesday.

“What do you give him to eat, potizza?” the Pope asked the svelte ex-model, referring to a dessert from her native country.

At first she appeared to think he said, “pizza” and looked at him quizzically — but then she laughed and said, “Potizza. Yes.”

The pontiff then turned to the president and gave him a wide grin. The commander in chief also laughed — but it wasn’t clear if he got the joke.

The pope spoke in Italian, one of five languages the first lady reportedly speaks fluently.

The Vatican said Francis often mentions potizza — a flaky Christmas pasty made with yeast and filled with raisins and chocolate — when he meets with Slovenians.

Donald Trump has been heavily criticised after passing comment on the physical appearance of France’s first lady during his first state visit to France.

Standing in the marbled hall of the the Hôtel national des Invalides in Paris on Thursday, Trump was filmed looking Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French president, admiringly up and down.

“You’re in such good shape,” the US president told her. He then turned to her husband, newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron, who was standing beside him, and repeated: “She’s in such good physical shape.”

Looking back to the first lady of France, Trump nodded approvingly once more and added: “Beautiful.” Her response was unclear, but she appeared to to take Trump’s wife, Melania, by the arm and step slightly backwards.

Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats

In this eye-opening exposé, acclaimed health journalist and National Geographic contributor Maryn McKenna documents how antibiotics transformed chicken from local delicacy to industrial commodity—and human health threat—uncovering the ways we can make America's favorite meat safer again.

What you eat matters—for your health, for the environment, and for future generations. In this riveting investigative narrative, McKenna dives deep into the world of modern agriculture by way of chicken: from the farm where it's raised directly to your dinner table. Consumed more than any other meat in the United States, chicken is emblematic of today's mass food-processing practices and their profound influence on our lives and health. Tracing its meteoric rise from scarce treat to ubiquitous global commodity, McKenna reveals the astounding role of antibiotics in industrial farming, documenting how and why "wonder drugs" revolutionized the way the world eats—and not necessarily for the better. Rich with scientific, historical, and cultural insights, this spellbinding cautionary tale shines a light on one of America's favorite foods—and shows us the way to safer, healthier eating for ourselves and our children.

What does the invention of the chicken nugget in 1963 have to do with a 1999 outbreak of urinary tract infections in Berkeley undergraduates? More than you might realize, writes journalist Maryn McKenna: Both, she argues, are ultimately due to the industrialization of chicken farming during the 20th century. In Big Chicken, she skillfully weaves together the interre lated threads of agricultural industrialization, antibiotic misuse, and food safety issues in a highly readable and engaging narrative.http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6358/1360

Maryn McKenna... "to feed the world with cheap protein at the risk of sickening the world with resistance bacteria—was a false choice"...

Gus: Chicken farms are moving away from using antibiotics in their practices, but is it too late?...Read from top...

Read also:

The large and expanding use of antimicrobials in livestock, a consequence of growing global demand for animal protein, is of considerable concern in light of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Use of antimicrobials in animals has been linked to drug-resistant infections in animals (1) and humans (2). In September 2016, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recognized the inappropriate use of antimicrobials in animals as a leading cause of rising AMR. In September 2018, the interagency group established by the UN Secretary General will report on progress in the global response to AMR, including antimicrobial consumption in animals. We provide a baseline to monitor efforts to reduce antimicrobial use and assess how three global policies might curb antimicrobial consumption in food animal production: (i) enforcing global regulations to cap antimicrobial use, (ii) adherence to nutritional guidelines leading to reduced meat consumption, and (iii) imposing a global user fee on veterinary antimicrobial use.